CII plans schooling for backward

As part of its affirmative action initiative in the western region, the Western Region Committee of CII will focus on providing quality education to around 2,000 to 3,000 students and creating 25 to 30 entrepreneurs over the next few years from the socially underprivileged sections of society, CII's Western Region Committee Chairman Farhad Forbes said.

Speaking to Business Standard about the CII's plans to implement its affirmative action initiative in the western region, Forbes said, "we had asked our member companies adopt the CII's affirmative action policy by November 1 and give their commitments to providing quality education to backward sections of the society so that their employability increases and it also creates entrepreneurs who will act as role models for this section of our society".

"Much before the deadline ended, 27 member companies, sent us letters outlining their commitment. However, all this is voluntary and we have not compelled any corporate bodies to be the part of initiative," he added.

Forbes said their main focus was on increasing the employability of the socially underprivileged section of society by ensuring that quality education reached them and the gap between those who study in government schools and public schools was bridged.

This would be done by providing scholarships to deserving and meritorious students and starting coaching centres with the help of local universities or colleges and backing these up with coaching centres, Forbes said.

"We have told our member companies that they can pursue these activities on their own or they can join the CII's common initiative as representative organisations of the Indian industry," Forbes said.

Besides providing quality education to students from underprivileged sections, our main thrust is to create entrepreneurs from this section who will not only provide employment to others but will also act as role models to thousands of others, Forbes said.

However, Forbes remained non-committal about the amount of funds it wants to raise through its member companies.